Asked by Chen Mo, Wang Hanzhang was momentarily stunned. Clearly, he had never considered this question before.
Chen Mo thought for a moment and rephrased his approach. "Since it's a night shift, how many people are rotating with Wang Jianguo?"
"How many people?" Wang Hanzhang looked up, trying to recall. "I've never heard Jianguo mention anything about rotating shifts. Hang on, let me call their supervisor and ask."
Wang Hanzhang immediately stepped aside to make a phone call. When he returned, his face was filled with confusion.
"Xiao Chen, it's really strange. The Route 404 bus Wang Jianguo drives—no one rotates with him."
"So that means this Route 404 night bus only has him as the driver?"
Hearing Chen Mo say this, Wang Hanzhang suddenly felt something was off. How could a bus route have only one vehicle and one driver? If the night shift had fewer departures, having just one bus might make sense, but when Wang Jianguo was off duty, there should be another driver to take over. Otherwise, wouldn't this bus route just come to a halt?
"In short, this route is indeed suspicious."
Wang Hanzhang nodded, his expression full of emotion. "Thank you, Xiao Chen. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have realized that the bus company might have issues too."
"I was wondering, my son just graduated from vocational school, how did he find a job so quickly, with decent pay too—five thousand during the probation period!"
Five thousand wasn't considered a high salary in Jiangcheng, but for a fresh graduate on probation, it was no small amount. Could it be related to driving this bus?
"Xiao Chen, let's go!" The thought of his son being tricked into driving a "ghost bus" made Wang Hanzhang grit his teeth. He grabbed Chen Mo, ready to confront the bus company, but Chen Mo stopped him again.
"Teacher Wang, don't rush. Let me finish what I have to say."
If the Western Bus Company really had issues, barging in recklessly would only alert them. It might make further investigation much harder.
Hearing Chen Mo's words, Wang Hanzhang looked at a loss.
"Xiao Chen, what do you think we should do next? Should we notify the police?"
"I said, don't rush." Chen Mo shook his head. The fact that Route 404 had only one driver was strange, but it wasn't directly linked to Wang Jianguo's disappearance. At best, it provided the police with a new lead. Whether that lead was useful was uncertain, and it might easily tip off the other side.
Of course, this assumed the bus company really had problems.
Now, only one final and immediate clue remained to be thoroughly investigated—the bus parked in the yard, which had mysteriously vanished and then reappeared.
The battered, bloodstained bus gave off an eerie vibe even in broad daylight.
To be honest, Chen Mo wasn't eager to board it himself, but since things had come this far, skipping this step might mean missing the most crucial clue.
There was another important reason: it was still afternoon, and there were a few mechanics working nearby. Surely... nothing would happen, right?
Chen Mo hesitated in front of the bus for a moment, then steeled himself. He grabbed the door handle and stepped onto the rear step.
"Hey."
A voice came from behind. Chen Mo turned to see the same mechanic from earlier.
"Be careful. Don't hurt yourself."
The bus was in rough shape, with many handrails broken off, exposing sharp edges. The mechanic was clearly giving him a friendly warning.
Chen Mo thanked him and continued climbing up the two steps into the bus.
Though battered and damaged, the interior of this Route 404 bus wasn't much different from any ordinary bus. However, due to the "accident," bloodstains were everywhere, giving it a grim appearance.
Chen Mo walked from the back door toward the front, but aside from the blood, he found nothing noteworthy. No unusual events occurred either.
Perhaps whatever had triggered this supernatural event had already left the bus?
After circling the bus once without any special findings, Chen Mo thought it wasn't surprising. After the bus had mysteriously returned to the station, the police investigating the case would have conducted a thorough inspection. If there were any clues, they would have been discovered by now.
In other words, this visit had only uncovered the oddity of Route 404 having just one driver, with no other gains. Still, that was fine. Even if he wanted to uncover the truth, Chen Mo didn't actually want ghosts or the like to appear around him.
Maybe, after experiencing the horror stories from the Strange Talk Radio, he was just being overly paranoid.
Lost in thought, Chen Mo reached the front of the bus, the area most severely damaged in the collision. The windshield was shattered and caved inward, almost pressing against the driver's seat.
Though the windshield was broken into pieces, Chen Mo noticed something: most of the shattered glass was scattered around, but the driver's seat, which was very close to the glass, had only a few shards on it.
It looked as if someone had been sitting there when the accident happened.
Could it be that Wang Jianguo was driving the bus at the time?
If so, that raised more questions. Where had Wang Jianguo driven the bus? If he was seriously injured in the accident, where had he gone?
Then there were the passengers. The amount of blood on the bus suggested there were many people on board during the accident. If it was a major safety incident, why hadn't any of the passengers' families reported it?
The whole event seemed shrouded in layers of fog, leaving one utterly confused.
Glancing at the driver's seat, a sudden thought popped into Chen Mo's mind. As if driven by some unseen force, he walked over and slowly sat down.
If Wang Jianguo had been driving this bus when the accident occurred, what had happened in those final seconds? Through the windshield in front of him, what... had he seen?
Sitting in the seat Wang Jianguo had once occupied, Chen Mo looked around. An ordinary cab, ordinary fixtures. What Wang Jianguo had seen back then was now unknowable.
Wait!
Suddenly, Chen Mo's heart skipped a beat. An inexplicable sense of danger surged within him.
Why am I sitting in the driver's seat?
This was definitely not my own will.
I got on the bus to investigate clues related to the incident, not to explore from the driver's perspective. So why am I sitting here now?
This realization sent a jolt through Chen Mo. The way he had been drawn to the driver's seat and sat down felt completely unlike his own conscious actions.
A bad premonition welled up in his heart. At the same time, Chen Mo noticed another eerie phenomenon happening around him.
When... had it gotten dark?